Heddle and method of making the same



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Patented May 26, 193

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE HEDDLE AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME Ralph Ragan, Atlanta, Ga., assignor to Steel Heddle Manufacturing Company, Philadelphia, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Original application June 29, 1931, Serial No. 547,773, new Patent No. 1,948,129, dated Feb.-

ruary 20, 1934. Divided and this application July 17, 1933, Serial No, 680,855

16 Claims. (01; 29-170) This invention is directed to steel heddles to be utilized in looms for the production of woven materials, and to a method of making the saine. Such heddles, when in operation in a loom, are mounted one alongside another in a vertical positionin a heddle frame. with rods adjacent its upper and lower edges on which the heddles are strung. The rods pass through eyes formed in the heddles near the ends of the latter and which are termed rod eyes. The warp threads which go into the formation of the fabric are passed through eyes which occur ad acent the central portions of the heddles, such eyes being known as the warp' eyes of .the heddles. I

A preferred form of machine for carrying out the method and for producing the heddles of this invention is shown, described, and claimed in my application for Letters Patent filed June 29, 1931, Serial No. 547,773, issued February 20, 1934, No.

1,948,129, of which application this is a division,

although it will of course be understood that various other instrumentalities may, if desired, be employed in the production of such heddles, and in the method of making the same.

ed upon the bed plate of the machine, and which perform the various operations for finishing the These operations include the following, namely,

First, the punching operation, which punches the holes (three to each heddle), which are to 'form the rod eye at the end of each heddle and the warp eye at the middle; second, the smooth warp eye operation in whichthe inner edges of the warp eye are rounded and smoothed; third,

the plunge warp eye and swedge rod eyes operation, in which the walls of the warp eye are spread apart; and the metal at the ends of the rod eyesis swedged; fourth, the offset warp eye operation, in which the warp eye and the metal adjacent thereto is twistedto place the warp eye at an angle to the plane occupied by the body The latter is provided Certain portions of the machine are fully described herein of the heddle; fifth, the separator oflset forming operation, in which ofisets are formed in the body of the heddle adjacent the rod eyes, to properly separate or space the heddles apart when the latter are mounted in a frame; sixth, the radii plunge operation in which the swedged portions of the outer ends of the rod eyes are upset or thickened on a radius equal to the radius of the edges of the rolled heddle rods, so as to fit and bear against the latter across a wide area when the heddles are strung upon such rods; seventh, the upper rod eye crimp and cut-o operation, in which the crimps are placed in the upper rod eye of the heddle, and the heddles cut off. a

The wire is drawn through these mechanisms by a metering mechanism which feeds the wire through the machine intermittently a .heddle length at a time. From; the mechanism which performs the upper rod eye crimpand cut-off operation, the wire is drawn, by the metering mechanism to the take-out mechanism. The latter is described in detail in the aforementioned original application. The metering mechanism" -reciprocates longitudinally withrespect to the machine.

One of the objectsof my invention has particular reference to the smooth warp eye operation, and is directed to the method of making the warp eye with rounded interior edges so that the warp thread which passes through the eye when the heddle is in operation in a loom, will not engage any sharp edges or corners, and will therefore not be subjected to abrasion, whereby it will be unnecessary to subject the heddle, after its manufacture, to any special operation for smoothing the warp eye of the walls thereof, which has heretofore been the practice.

- Another object of my invention is directed to v the plunge warp eye operation, during which the walls of the warp eye are separated, so as to ac.- commodate the warp thread when the warp eye is later twisted; and in connection with this object of the invention I provide means whereby the walls of the warp eye are laterally separated or spaced apart without injuring their smoothed interior edges, while being adequately supported from below. I

Another object of the invention is directed to the oifset warp eye operation-in which the eye is twisted with reference to the heddle, and in connection with this object of the invention I provide a method whereby the twisted portion of the heddle merges gradually into the body of the heddle at the upper and lower extremities of the 

